Rough, raw and unfiltered, but also unapologetically suave and debonair, this brutalist Geylang Bahru HDB flat is an excellent example for those seeking rugged bachelor pad inspiration. With red brick walls, a farmhouse-style kitchen and a gratuitous amount of concrete in this renovation, there are plenty of great design ideas here for those chasing that masculine vibe.
Rustic living room with a raw brick wall
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
The living room is wonderfully laid back, with a rough hewn red brick feature wall that frames the wall-mounted TV, dark wood furniture and a leather sofa in a similar shade. The cement screed, along with the unpolished walls and ceiling, have a neutral palette to allow those details to pop, whilst still adding texture to the living room.
A highly masculine, dining room that commands presence
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
With a large, richly grained dining table, flanked by concrete display shelves, the dining room has a commanding presence, fitting for its central location in the home space.
The rough, raw texture concrete brick columns really emphasise the self-assured masculine confidence of the homeowner’s design style, while the clear glass shelves reiterate the sharp coldness of the room. Having a wire cage light fixture, with its warm lighting, also adds a certain industrial quality to the place.
Looming over all this is the glass brick facade that adds to the visual intrigue of the home, breaking up the monotony of the concrete screed wall.
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
Although the glass shelves are empty at the moment, spotlights mounted above allow light to filter through the transparent layers,adding to the cold harshness of the home.
Texture-heavy, farmhouse-style kitchen
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
The kitchen follows the texture-heavy industrial theme of the home, but does it with decidedly farmhouse-style aesthetics. All the cabinets are done up with what seems to be a richly grained, cool dark wood laminate, which goes well with the grey stone countertop and olive tile backsplash in a grungy, masculine palette.
The flooring complies with said palette, breaking up the darker colours with a light base and washed-out olive stars to complement the backsplash.
Warm strip lighting as well as ceiling lights in the kitchen add both warmth and a touch of class to the area.
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
A concrete bathroom with glass brick windows
Image credit: Three-D Conceptwerke
Lastly, the master bedroom’s attached bathroom has got to be one of the most complete implementations of brutalism in this home. From the walls, ceiling, and even the sink, practically anything that could be made in concrete was done so.
The plumbing is also entirely exposed—even the pipes connecting the taps are deliberately raised above the vanity, where it would’ve been traditionally connected directly into the sink. Painted in black or left in their original copper, the exposed piping reiterates that naked brutalist style that runs through the flat.
The vintage industrial hanging lamps double down on the industrial theme and really visually tie the whole room together.
A brutalist Geylang Bahru HDB flat
Despite the heavy textures and the traditional perception of concrete as a cold material, this brutalist flat manages to capture its raw qualities and combine them with plenty of warm lighting to create a home that is unabashedly rugged and masculine, but one that also manages to feel homely at the same time.
Perhaps bachelors out there who fancy themselves being able to carry that grungy, suave 5 o’clock shadow look could afford to take a page or two from this brutalist Geylang Bahru HDB flat, and give their homes the same vibe.
For more design inspo:
- An $80K modern Regency-style BTO renovation
- This ID firm specialises in dark, grungy, Batcave-style interiors
- This Yishun 4-room resale HDB has lots of curves
Cover image adapted from: Three-D Conceptwerke
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